


Five Times Jane Was Kinda Jealous And One Time Thor Was

by shinyopals



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Awesome Jane Foster, F/M, Fluff, Jane Foster Loves Science, POV Jane Foster, Post-Thor: The Dark World, Thor Is Not Stupid, ignores Thor 3 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-28 20:17:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10838661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinyopals/pseuds/shinyopals
Summary: ‘Hello, Jane,’ said Thor. He gave her a smile that would move mountains and definitely still made her stomach flutter. ‘This is Rachael and Amanda. They wished to give their regards for my help during the Convergence. Although of course without you we would have been hopeless.’ He turned back to Rachael and Amanda. ‘This is my dear friend Dr Jane Foster, of whom I was speaking.’Dear friend? Jane blinked. They’d been sleeping together for a couple of weeks and had had a slightly awkward conversation to establish where they stood with each other (what Jane called dating exclusively and Thor called a courtship). “Friend”, however “dear”, seemed a bit of an understatement.Sometimes dating a gorgeous world-saving alien prince has its drawbacks.





	Five Times Jane Was Kinda Jealous And One Time Thor Was

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to [Niobium](archiveofourown.org/users/niobium) for beta-reading!

** ONE **

‘This drink is most interesting,’ proclaimed Thor. ‘What did you say it was called?’

‘Uh, a _Sex on the Beach_ ,’ said Jane, after a moment of thought. She was feeling a little light-headed and warm, as she was on her third post-meal cocktail (not counting the wine over dinner).

Thor was on his eighth and didn’t seem to be reacting so far. He shot her a brilliant smile over his cocktail glass. ‘I think the, ah, Tequila Sunrise remains my favourite so far,’ he said. ‘But this is good.’ He took another slurp, spilled a couple of drops on his hand, and then licked it off. Jane did her best not to leer too openly. She was not a subtle drunk, but she was a self-aware one. Thor gave her a filthy grin, which told her she’d failed to hide it at all, so she giggled ludicrously and leaned over to plant her mouth on his for a rather sloppy kiss.

They were taking a break from work. Or rather, _she_ was taking a break from work and Thor was joining her. He liked food and drink and experiencing Midgard, so she’d hunted down some restaurant recommendations and planned a real, proper date. She was even wearing a dress. A slightly old and plain dress, but a dress nonetheless. After all, it was still early days. Just because she wore scruffy jeans and shirts most of the time, it didn’t mean she should _never_ make an effort. 

‘What would you next recommend?’ asked Thor.

‘Uh…’ said Jane. She picked up the cocktail menu and peered through it. She’d been sticking to her usual choice of whiskey and coke, and she was running out of cocktails she knew off the top of her head. ‘A Manhattan?’ she suggested. ‘I feel like you need something a bit stronger.’ She giggled again and tried to stop herself.

He laughed and took her hand to kiss it. ‘The alcohol on Midgard is not very strong, it is true,’ he said. ‘You are well?’ 

‘Oh, I’m fine,’ she insisted. She waved a hand and nearly knocked over her drink. ‘Whoops. I am fine. Very fine.’ She beamed over at him, holding her drink firmly on the table now. He raised an eyebrow. ‘This is just… the fun bit,’ said Jane. ‘Too bad you’re missing out.’

‘I’ll have to drink more quickly then,’ he said, still grinning. He downed the rest of his cocktail without hesitation and turned around to catch the eye of one of the waiters.

‘I’m gonna go pee,’ said Jane. ‘Get some chips… crisps… whatever they’re called here.’ She struggled to her feet, blinked a couple of times to clear her head, decided she was good to walk, and accepted her bag from Thor. ‘Thanks, Beautiful,’ she said cheerfully. Thor looked briefly confused and pleased, and she gave him another kiss for luck.

On her way to the ladies’ room, she could have sworn she heard someone say the name ‘Thor’, but she couldn’t pinpoint from where, so she left it. Even in normal, human clothes, Thor could hardly hope for complete anonymity. He was the kind of man who’d get stares from around the room even if he wasn’t a world-saving superhero-alien.

In the restroom, she splashed a little water on her face and then quickly patted it off when she remembered she was wearing eye make-up. Squinting at herself in the mirror, she decided she still looked fairly presentable, all things considered. Thor didn’t seem to mind her many and varied imperfections, so she didn’t think smudging her make-up was going to turn out to be a deal breaker.

Back at the table, she found Thor chatting to two very glamorous and perfectly dressed young women, and she suddenly wished rather suddenly she hadn’t messed up her face.

‘Uh, hi,’ she said. Thor had got some chips, another cocktail for himself, and what looked like a water for Jane, for which she was grateful. She slid into her seat with a polite nod as his new acquaintances.

‘Hello, Jane,’ said Thor. He gave her a smile that would move mountains and definitely still made her stomach flutter. ‘This is Rachael and Amanda. They wished to give their regards for my help during the Convergence. Although of course without you we would have been hopeless.’ He turned back to Rachael and Amanda. ‘This is my dear friend Dr Jane Foster, of whom I was speaking.’

_Dear friend_? Jane blinked. They’d been sleeping together for a couple of weeks and had had a slightly awkward conversation to establish where they stood with each other (what Jane called dating exclusively and Thor called a courtship). “Friend”, however “dear”, seemed a bit of an understatement.

Rachael and Amanda seemed to take in Jane’s smudged make-up, rumpled not-particularly-fashionable dress, and _friend_ status, and judge her not hugely relevant. Jane scowled into her drink while Thor was charming. He did keep bringing her into the conversation, which was all well and good, but Rachael and Amanda were obviously incredibly uninterested in her. They much preferred to talk about how brave Thor had been to fight in London and in New York.

‘I was of course extremely lucky to have an astrophysicist of Jane’s calibre at my side,’ said Thor after a few minutes. ‘Jane has since been studying the Convergence in some detail. You are writing a paper, are you not, to be published in the most important journals of the land?’ He seemed to almost puff out his chest a bit with associated pride, which made Jane soften a bit.

‘Yeah, I’m working on it,’ she said. ‘The five thousand year cycle is really interesting,’ she informed the two women. ‘Obviously it’s not physical position of the nine realms as they’re all in different parts of different galaxies, hurtling away from each other. It’s their position within Yggradsil, which is the Asgardian name for the interconnected regions of spacetime where the bridges form easily.’ She could tell she’d completely lost the two women’s attention, but Thor had leaned forward slightly.

‘What more do you hope to learn?’ he asked her. ‘Will this help you build a bridge?’

‘I mean, not in the short term,’ said Jane. ‘That’s way off. But the Convergence was a naturally forming set of wormholes that looked completely different to the Bifrost. There’s gotta be something in the movement of the planets… how they rotate or their gravitational fields or something measurable that’ll tell us how that connection was formed.’

Thor nodded slowly, frowning slightly. ‘My tutors always said… the branches of Yggdrasil are free to grow, and free to move with the universe,’ he said carefully. ‘And that the realms are bound to the branches but not held prisoner by them.’

‘So like a tree in the wind?’ said Jane. Thor smiled and nodded. She pursed her lips. ‘And Yggdrasil itself is separate from the planets?’

‘Separate and connected,’ said Thor. ‘The realms move by their own, ah... gravity and position in the universe. That you can study and measure with your… relativity theory?’ Jane nodded and smiled, leaning closer. He was incredibly cute when he talked physics. ‘Hidden from that, though, the branches they are connected to spin and sway from the pull of Yggdrasil. Sometimes the path between the realms is smooth and quick, sometimes it is slow and choppy. The position of Midgard in the universe and its position within the World’s Tree are two different things, but I am told they do impact each other.’

‘Oh,’ said Jane. ‘Oh, wait! Do you think I could measure the impact? Like… if I can spot somewhere relativity breaks down, I’ve found the forces of the bridge, pulling on Earth.’

‘I confess I do not understand Relativity in the language you use to describe it-’

‘You mean math,’ interrupted Jane with a grin. 

Thor gave an easy shrug. ‘It makes far more sense when you study it magically,’ he said loftily, but with a wink. Jane poked his arm. ‘ _But_ ,’ he continued, ‘I believe what you suggest makes sense.’

Jane beamed and reached for one of the slightly damp paper napkins on the table. Thor supplied a pen from one of his pockets even as she began to reach for her bag and she smiled at him and made a couple of brief notes as Thor leaned over her shoulder. She didn’t really mind people watching her think - had always got too absorbed in her work anyway - but Thor’s interest always made her just that little bit happier.

As she was finishing, she became aware of movement as the other two women made to leave, saying farewells to Thor. She’d completely forgotten about them, but once they were gone she felt relief. She wasn’t great with strangers, and she _really_ wasn’t great with gorgeous, socially-competent strangers.

Folding the paper and carefully pocketing it, she looked up to see Thor smiling at her.

‘At last,’ he said quietly. ‘I thought they would stay all night.’

She blinked at him. She’d never heard him be anything other than delighted about company before. ‘I thought… you liked them?’ she said slowly.

‘Their attention was natural enough,’ said Thor, with the shrug of a man who had way more admirers than Jane wanted to think about. ‘I do not mind greeting anyone: it takes little of my time and often means much to them. But I have lived long enough to be wary of those who seek my acquaintance or friendship based solely on my status.’

‘Well you could have been a bit more discouraging,’ blurted out Jane, a bit snappier than she meant. She covered her mouth suddenly, realising she was still a bit drunk. ‘Oops, sorry, I didn’t mean- um.’

Thor did not look offended though, he merely looked confused. ‘Was my interest only in you not clearly expressed enough?’ he asked.

‘No, no, it was fine. I’m being stupid.’ She inwardly cursed. She did not want to get into this.

‘Jane,’ he said softly. He took her hand. ‘I believe I have misspoken. I ask that you tell me, so next time I may correct it.’

‘No, I mean-’ She broke off and took a deep breath. ‘It’s silly. But. You called me your friend. I’m not. Well. I am. But I’m your girlfriend. Or courting partner or whatever it’s called in Asgard.’

Thor’s face had cleared. ‘Oh,’ he said. ‘Please forgive me, Jane. On Asgard it would be the height of presumption to introduce you to strangers as such without your permission.’

‘Well… presume away,’ said Jane, letting out a short breath. That had been easy. She said a silent thanks for Thor being as amazing as he was. ‘We’ve had the talk and agreed we’re dating, so it’s OK to tell people. Unless we were hiding it on purpose.’ She smiled. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to get snippy, but if you want to put women off, the easiest way is to tell them you’re dating. It won’t always work, but it’ll be pretty clear.’

Thor bowed his head in acknowledgement, before taking her hand once more. ‘I shall introduce you correctly in future, hjartað mitt.’ He kissed her fingers, still holding her gaze.

‘Um,’ said Jane, temporarily losing her words because of the look in his eyes. She hunted around in her brain for a moment before figuring out what she wanted to know. ‘What did you say?’

‘ _My heart_ ,’ he translated, with a small smile. He kissed her hand again, lingering this time. Jane was pretty confident she was going to melt into goo in any second. ‘Another way I might make my feelings clear to any who doubt it.’

‘Or… or we could just go home?’ said Jane. ‘Like, now.’

His smile broadened. ‘As my lady wishes,’ he said, with another bow of his head.

 

** TWO **

'I miss you,’ said Jane without thinking. She’d probably said it about five times that call already. They’d only been apart a week and a half (the Avengers had needed him) but it had been the longest time they’d been separated since he’d come to live on Earth a few months before. She couldn’t help but grumpily suspect that the aftermath of SHIELD collapsing meant she’d have to get used to webcams and maybe get better at phonesex.

The small webcam image of Thor smiled yet again. It was not the best connection, so the picture was a little fuzzy.

‘And I you,’ he said. ‘I hope to join you at the end of the week.’ He gave a slight grimace. ‘I had hoped it would be sooner, but Stark has asked if I might attend some events of his. He informs me that my presence will help raise more money for his charities, which I cannot deny is a worthy endeavour.’

‘Oh yeah?’ said Jane. ‘Some sort of swanky party?’

‘Indeed,’ said Thor. ‘I do not mind attending, although I would rather do so if you were by my side.’ Jane smiled, and Thor continued. ‘Stark has sent myself and Captain Rogers to be have clothes made. He was unfortunately under the impression that after a thousand years of attending royal events, I might need help in choosing appropriate formalwear.’

Jane snorted. ‘Sounds like Stark,’ she said. She didn’t know Tony Stark that well - and was still trying to get over the fact that she knew Tony Stark at all - but she knew he underestimated both Thor and Steve Rogers’ acclimatisation to modern day Earth. She also knew they’d both started playing dumb to mess with him: she’d once caught them snickering about managing to drive him mad during a computer lesson. ‘I’m sure you’ll look amazing. Get some photos so I can see!’ He grinned. He was pretty good with selfies, at least partially because he was so damn photogenic and had a massive ego. 

‘How goes your work?’ he asked then. ‘Yesterday you said your recording device was miswired. I hope you have had success in fixing it?’

‘Oh, yeah, that’s sorted,’ said Jane. ‘I managed to get some good data today, but one of the places I want to go was private property and Darcy wouldn’t let me go in without getting permission, so she’s tracking down the owner now.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Some farmer shoots at you _one time_ and suddenly everyone is super paranoid about “No Trespassing” signs!’

Thor’s lips twitched. ‘I hope it is not unforgivable to side with Darcy on this particular issue,’ he said.

‘Ugh,’ said Jane. ‘It would have been _totally fine_.’

~*~

Two days later, she was woken by Darcy appearing in her room and jumping on her bed. She’d been up until four in the morning adjusting her instruments to focus on a small sector of sky, and her neck and back ached. She was not in the mood to be roused before nine, even if Darcy had brought coffee.

‘Go away,’ she muttered into her pillow. ‘Work later.’

‘Jaaaaane,’ said Darcy.

‘Hate you,’ said Jane.

‘No you don’t, you super love me,’ said Darcy. 

Jane felt herself being prodded through the covers and swiped vaguely in Darcy’s direction to try and get rid of her. It was not successful. ‘Nooo,’ she mumbled. The covers were warm and kind and comfy. Darcy was none of these things.

‘Look, I wouldn’t interrupt, but there’s a thing you probably want to see.’

Jane considered this statement for a moment. ‘Thor?’ she asked, opening one eye.

‘Yes, but he’s not in trouble,’ said Darcy. ‘Well, not until you see this. Then he might be in trouble.’

Jane opened the other eye and frowned up at her friend. ‘Whuh-?’

‘He was at one of Stark’s ridiculous parties last night,’ said Darcy. Jane continued to frown. She knew about the party. ‘So was Miss Universe from a couple of years ago, and she was getting as friendly as she could. Aaaand the gossip websites are running with it.’

Rubbing her eyes, Jane sat up, trying to ignore the slight lurch in her stomach. She trusted Thor, of course, and she knew he loved her. And she hardly minded that he was gorgeous. She sometimes just wished he was a bit _ruder_. 

‘Here you go,’ said Darcy, offering her phone. ‘It’s not scandalous or anything. It’s just the internet making it out to be.’

Jane glared at the phone.

> ### OUT OF THIS WORLD?
> 
> #### Alien Prince and Miss Universe 2010 might be the most beautiful couple in the universe!
> 
>  **SPOTTED AT THE STARK INDUSTRIES VETERANS’ BENEFIT:** Thor (yes, _that_ Thor) and Eleni Santos (Miss Universe 2010) stepping out together for the first time in public.
> 
> The gorgeous couple sat together at dinner, and spent the whole night devoting their attention only to each other and dancing the night away. You only need look at the pics to see how perfect they are for each other. Those at the event say that Eleni and Thor could hardly be pried apart. “She clearly knows exactly how lucky she is,” said a fellow attendee. “If Thor had been looking at me like that, I’d’ve melted on the spot.”
> 
> Eleni, 28, has been single since last year when her rocky relationship with long-term boyfriend Nick Kurt (of the _Destiny_ series fame) finally ended. Nick was also at the event, so he must have been seething about seeing her so loved up! Thor meanwhile, has only recently broken up with Jane Foster (a scientist), allegedly because she was too much of a workaholic and couldn’t make time for him. Sources close to Foster, 32, say that she’s devastated with how quickly Thor has moved on, and who can blame her?
> 
> Thor and Eleni could clearly have their pick of anyone, so it seems lucky they’ve found each other, and we wish them both the best!

‘Eurgh,’ she muttered. The _devastated workaholic_ paragraph had a picture of her that, from the setting, was clearly at least a month old. She was wearing dirty jeans and sunglasses and she thought she might have been hungover when it was taken.

‘He doesn’t look particularly into her,’ said Darcy encouragingly.

Jane peered at the picture of Thor and Eleni Santos, who was completely gorgeous. She was holding his arm and smiling up at him and he was clearly being very charming to her. Jane knew Thor well enough by now to know that he was holding himself comfortably enough that he actually _liked_ Eleni Santos, rather than merely tolerating her. He was not, however, gazing as devotedly as the copy seemed to imply. Shutting her eyes, Jane handed the phone back to Darcy. She decided resolutely she wasn’t going to care.

‘It’s totally fine,’ she said, in the spirit of not caring. ‘I am fine. He’s allowed to make new friends.’

‘It would be nicer if they were less pretty,’ said Darcy, voicing what Jane had been thinking. 

‘I’m fine with it,’ said Jane.

‘You know you don’t have to be, not to me.’

Jane sighed. ‘Ugh, fine, whatever. I wish she was ugly as hell. I wish she was eighty-seven. I wish she was completely, one hundred percent gay. I wish she was all three.’

‘That’s more like it!’ said Darcy. ‘Just as long as you do definitely know he’s totally, disgustingly crazy about you and you’re not going to freak out when I leave.’

‘I know he loves me,’ said Jane, and smiled despite herself. ‘And I’m OK with him being friendly and lovely and charming.’ She felt that was a fair and true statement. ‘That’s who he is. I just sometimes wish his default setting was a bit less, like, full on.’

‘Maybe one day he will meet someone who doesn’t instantly fall in love with him,’ said Darcy with a dramatic sigh.

Jane laughed. ‘I live in hope,’ she said. ‘Now let me go back to sleep. And if anyone wants a media quote tell them I’m only devastated that they’re so fucking stupid.’

‘Atta girl,’ said Darcy, patting her on the shoulder. ‘And don’t forget to make him suffer a bit when he arrives so he buys you some flowers or something.’

Shaking her head, Jane pulled the covers up over herself and shut her eyes determinedly. She needed more sleep and less boyfriend drama.

~*~

Thor arrived when she’d just got out of the shower after midday and was still wearing a towel and poking around in her belongings for some food.

‘Oh, hi!’ she said. She suppressed the slight lurch in her stomach and gave him a smile. ‘I wasn’t expecting you so soon!’ And then, because she had missed him, she felt her smile broaden without even forcing it. Tabloids were hardly his fault after all. _Then_ she noticed he was frowning deeply. ‘Are you OK?’

‘Jane, it is possible you have not seen the news,’ he said.

‘Oh, the Stark dinner thing?’ she said. ‘I saw that.’ She was trying to sound light and airy and hoped she wasn’t failing.

‘Jane, I am deeply sorry. I had no idea that this would happen.’

Jane frowned. He looked way more worried than she’d expected and she tried to ignore the way that made her want to panic. ‘Um,’ she said. ‘What do you have to be sorry… about?’

‘I knew there was interest in my relationships, but I never dreamed there would be such disrespectful rumours,’ he said, still looking deeply perturbed. 

‘Oh, right,’ said Jane. She found a granola bar and sat on the bed, patting the spot next to her. Thor joined her. He seemed almost nervous. Jane was starting to think it was adorable. ‘This is pretty run of the mill,’ she said. ‘Do they not have… tabloids and gossip on Asgard?’

‘Well, yes, of a kind,’ said Thor. ‘Obviously there is always gossip about my life. I do not enjoy it but I accept it. But never would such a story be printed so clearly and obviously for all to see. Not about _me_.’ He sounded so offended that Jane actually laughed.

‘You’re not a prince here, you know,’ she said. ‘You’re just a regular old celebrity and we’re both going to have to get used to this.’

‘You are… not bothered?’ he asked tentatively.

‘Of course I’m bothered!’ said Jane. ‘But not by you. Not really. I’m sure you were just being friendly. I can get over it.’

‘Well I hope this does not harm Eleni,’ he said, brows furrowing once more.

‘I’m sure she’s more used to it than you are,’ said Jane.

‘Yes, but-’ He hesitated for a moment. ‘I say this in confidence. I might not have spent so much time with her, were it not for the fact that her previous partner was attending that night. She said he was likely to drink and start a fight, and cause them both embarrassment.’ He continued to frown. ‘I served the purpose of fending him off. I just hope he will not contact her because of this. To help one night only to cause harm the next is not what I wished.’

‘Oh,’ said Jane, then she laughed. ‘Oh Thor, you’re such a sweetie.’ She grabbed him and hugged him. ‘I love you. You’re wonderful. And hopefully her jackass ex will decide you’re too scary a proposition. Did you give her your number? Then she could call if anything awful happens.’

 

He leaned into her. ‘I am sorry for the hurt I have caused you,’ he said.

‘Completely irrelevant,’ said Jane. ‘Gossip websites are always going to be stupid. Just keep being you.’

Finally, she felt the tension fully leave him, and heard him laugh quietly. ‘I plan on it,’ he said.

‘Good,’ she replied, tugging lightly at the bottom of the towel she was wearing and grinning across at him until he started to mirror her smile with a dirty grin of his own. ‘So you’re here to stay for a bit now?’

His kiss was the only answer she needed.

 

** THREE **

Summer brought short nights in Jane’s usual haunts, like her apartment near Culver, but she had enough on her plate without needing masses more observational data so for once it didn’t necessitate a trip to the southern hemisphere. If the attack on New York had made people start to take her seriously, the Convergence and the data and theories she had cemented her new reputation of _not_ being completely eccentric. Being listened to by other scientists was still very strange.

Thor was also kept busy, in his case by the Avengers chasing down Hydra bases and trying to shut them down once and for all. She missed him, and he her, but the work seemed to suit him. He sent her letters and postcards care of Culver U, and she sent the same to him care of Stark Tower (with a bit less soppiness and a bit more physics). Whenever he had the chance, though, he did fly to join her, so it wasn’t as though she didn’t see him. A boyfriend who considered supersonic flight to be a “moderate” speed definitely had its benefits.

At last, however, she found herself in New York to spend some proper time with him. Or rather, she had come up to the city to spend three days bashing out some math with one of the researchers at Columbia, and she fully planned to stay a bit longer once she was done.

Seventy-eight hours of math, caffeine, math, cat naps on a couch, math, more caffeine, math, mild hallucinogens, math, and more math, she crashed for five hours on the same couch as before, showered, stuffed her dirty clothes into a rucksack and was ready to face the world. Or at least, ready to find her boyfriend and jump his bones. She gave Darcy the rest of the week off and handed her a credit card to pay for a hotel and whatever else.

‘The limit is five grand,’ she told her friend. ‘And I can’t really afford all of that.’

‘Ugh,’ complained Darcy. ‘What’s the point in having a prince for a boyfriend if you don’t use his money?’

Jane ignored her and texted Thor, whose reply was almost instantaneous. ‘Ooh, he’s free and in New York!’ she said, beaming. ‘He said to meet him in Central Park.’

‘Well try and get to the privacy of the Tower before the clothes start coming off,’ said Darcy cheerfully.

Rolling her eyes, Jane replied to Thor’s message, waved goodbye to Darcy and headed to the nearest subway station.

In the park, as further out of the city, the sun was shining and a pleasant breeze played across her face and tumbled her hair. No wonder Thor was out and about. Although she hoped he’d be amenable to being dragged back to Stark Tower pretty quickly, for all that she’d rolled her eyes at Darcy.

They’d agreed to meet near the entrance by the Museum of Natural History, and Jane didn’t see him instantly, but was happy to wander in circles in the park for a few moments. There were plenty of others about: people cycling and running, or sitting and picnicking, or families playing. It would have been great for people watching, but it didn’t take her too long to get a bit impatient. It had been three weeks since they’d last seen each other. She just wanted to find him and be done.

It was at that point she noticed a small crowd of people clustering around some invisible central point, and realised that of those she could see alone, there were five different ‘Avengers’ t-shirts on display. She sighed, gripped the straps of her rucksack and made her way forward.

The crowd was far too tall and too tightly packed for her to see into it. Grumbling under her breath, but feeling she ought to be sure before she trod on a lot of toes, she nudged the guy next to her. 

‘What’s happening?’

‘It’s Captain America and Thor!’ he said. ‘They’re signing autographs!’

Well that answered that. She felt bad for Steve. He hated this sort of thing. He was probably never going outside with Thor again after this.

Gritting her teeth, she squinted for a break in the mass of people, ducked her head, and went for it. She thought she heard the guy she’d asked yell “Hey!” at her retreating back, but she ignored him as she pushed forward. She wasn’t tall or strong, but that was an advantage as she slid into gaps or under arms, ignoring any protests or epithets. 

She was almost at the front when someone grabbed her arm. ‘Hey! You can’t push! There’s a system!’

‘Bite me!’ she snapped at the guy, shaking him free, ducking under one final set of arms and into a small clearing in the mob where Thor and Steve were sat on a bench. Thor was cheerfully signing a book for someone, while Steve looked like he wanted to die.

Before the crowd could shove her backwards, the two of them saw her.

‘Jane! Hi!’ said Steve. ‘Good to see you!’

Thor beamed and extended a hand to tug her onto the bench between them both. She got the feeling half the crowd suddenly wanted to kill her. ‘It is good to see you again, Jane,’ he said, and kissed her, touching her cheek gently. ‘I have missed you.’

‘Hey, you,’ she said, smiling, wishing they were back in his rooms at Stark Tower. He squeezed her hand, and from his eyes she thought he guessed what she wanted.

But- ‘Excuse me, sorry, but could I please get a selfie?’ asked someone, and Thor cheerfully turned back to his fans. Jane thought she heard Steve swear under his breath and when she looked at him he had a very pasted-on smile. 

She allowed herself to be ignored with as good humour as she could manage. It had been _weeks_ , after all. And the crowd only seemed to be growing in size. Grumpily, she dug her phone out of her pocket and texted Darcy to complain about how she wasn’t getting laid yet. Darcy was not hugely sympathetic.

Eventually, _at last_ , the crowd seemed to be thinning out a bit. She could see trees again. There was a New York outside the mob. She caught Steve’s eye and he sent her a relieved grimace.

At that moment, one of the remaining fans, who was wearing a tank top that Jane would have thought skimpy on the beach, asked Thor to sign his pecs. Some other people in the crowd laughed. Jane caught sight of a couple of the remaining women looking down at their own chests and tugging on t shirts thoughtfully.

Thor had turned towards Jane with a look on his face that read as pure confusion. _What is the etiquette here?_ he seemed to be asking. 

‘Are you kidding me?’ she said sarcastically to the group as a whole. Some faces fell. Others looked suddenly defensive.

‘It’s just a bit of a laugh,’ said one of them.

‘These guys have sat here for god knows how long signing shit,’ said Jane, voice rising a little. ‘Nobody wants to sign body parts. It’s just weird. Arms are about the limit, and even that’s strange. Just… get a selfie. Nobody’s signing your boobs or your man boobs.’

Steve shot her a look that was pure relief and thankfulness. Thor’s was more amused, but he seemed happy enough to go with it.

Jane heard someone mutter “jealous girlfriend” in and amongst the voices in the crowd and glared around. ‘Anyone want to argue about it?’ she demanded loudly. An awkward silence fell. Jane, a veteran of many awkward silences, waited a few moments and then folded her arms. A few people in the crowd dispersed. ‘Good,’ she said. ‘I’ve got a notebook if anyone needs paper to get it autographed.’

Thor winked at Jane as he signed a postcard for the guy who’d wanted his pecs done. 

At last they worked their way through the rest of the crowd and Steve hurriedly got to his feet. ‘Can we get going?’ he asked.

‘In a rush?’ said Thor, with a grin.

Jane elbowed him. ‘Don’t be a jerk,’ she said. Thor scrambled to his feet, took her arm, and the three of them started walking, Steve cautiously peering from side to side.

‘I’m never coming here again,’ said Steve. ‘Every time we do something, there are more headlines and more fans and more…’ He gestured vaguely.

‘You could just tell them where to shove it,’ suggested Jane.

‘Normally I manage to avoid getting noticed by most people,’ said Steve. ‘For _some_ reason today that didn’t work out.’ He looked very pointedly at Thor.

Thor shrugged. ‘We have saved them. They wish to express their thanks. They wish to meet us. Their methods are strange but such an outpouring of emotion is common the universe over.’

‘Their… methods?’ said Steve.

‘In a thousand-and-whatever years, has nobody ever asked you to sign their man boobs before?’ asked Jane, amused.

‘They have not,’ said Thor.

‘Really?’ said Steve. ‘Someone asked me to sign his _thigh_ at the gym the other day. In the _showers_.’

Jane couldn’t help but laugh. ‘What did you do?’

‘What could I do? I signed it and then locked myself in the toilet cubicle until I was certain he was gone. Sam hasn’t stopped laughing about it since then.’ Thor snickered very unsympathetically for a man who’d not been sure what to do when presented with someone’s chest only a few minutes before. ‘What do they do on Asgard then?’ asked Steve. ‘You’re a Prince, and you’re used to attention, so they must do something.’

‘They would not ask for something from me,’ said Thor. ‘That would be considered rude.’

‘Even just a signature?’

‘Certainly,’ replied Thor. ‘I did not seek them out, and they are already asking for a moment of my time. To request a further gift would be insulting. A thanks and exchange of blessings is more typical. They might offer me a gift, and depending on the circumstances I might return one, but it should not be expected.’

‘People just… bring you presents on the street?’ said Jane doubtfully.

‘Gift is perhaps the wrong word,’ said Thor. ‘An offering? A thank you? Nothing large. In spring it is common for any who approach me to give me a cutting from the Yrmal tree - usually just a couple of leaves - and in return I typically offer their future children my blessings.’

‘Their future children… is this some fertility thing?’ asked Jane. Thor had some fertility magic as well as the whole weather thing. She was a lot less sure what to make of that one.

Thor nodded.

‘Wait, so strangers asking you to sign their pecs is rude,’ said Steve, ‘but you helping strangers have a baby after they give you some leaves is totally normal and A-OK?’

Laughing, Thor clapped his arm around Steve’s shoulders and neck. ‘Midgardians have the strangest customs,’ he said cheerfully.

‘Yes, because that’s what I got out of this conversation,’ said Steve sarcastically. ‘Remind me never to get famous on Asgard.’

Thor’s lip twitched. ‘Unfortunately, my friend, after the Battle of New York, you already are.’

‘Better figure out how to help people make babies, Steve,’ said Jane.

‘I hate you both,’ said Steve.

 

** FOUR **

'Here, Lady, drink this,’ said Thor softly as he handed her a finely polished wooden tankard, steaming at the top.

‘Will it give me alcohol poisoning?’ asked Jane dubiously.

‘It is a tea,’ said Thor. He coughed. ‘With a small amount of mead.’

Jane took a sip anyway, and then closed her eyes for a moment, concentrating on the thick, rich, and slightly smoky tasting liquid that warmed her and began to settle her stomach.

She was on Asgard. For a social visit. _At last!_ She’d been wanting this for months and Thor had been gently wearing his father down and had finally succeeded. Everything was brilliant. Except for the fact that she was at an elaborate party at the palace surrounded by beautiful immortal alien-gods and her disapproving not-quite-father-in-law, trying to act like she fitted in, when she couldn’t even drink the same alcohol as them unless she was prepared to get her stomach pumped later.

‘It’s good,’ she said at last, and took another mouthful. ‘Thanks, sorry, I don’t mean to be trouble.’

‘You are never trouble,’ said Thor, which she felt was a bald-faced lie. ‘The serving staff here are used to having specific requests made. If there is anything you wish for, you just need to ask.’

Jane laughed. ‘I wouldn’t even know what to ask for!’ she pointed out. Not that she needed to. The table was already piled high with food and drink and she’d hardly touched it. She wasn’t a heavy eater at the best of times and sitting on the top table with Thor and his family she was so far out of her comfort zone, food was the least of her priorities.

She drank more boozey tea and focussed on the rest of the huge hall to avoid thinking about the fact that her boyfriend’s dad, who ruled an entire planet, was sitting only a few seats away and was probably thinking about all the ways she didn’t fit in. At least there was plenty to look at to distract herself. The hall was tall and gold and ornate and glittering. The fires and torches flickered, casting shadows in the high arches but making the lower portion of the room gleam. There were some half a dozen huge tables, all piled high with meat - whole boars and huge birds and cuts she couldn’t even begin to recognise. Asgardians seemed to love their dead animals. Not that there weren’t also vegetable dishes: heaps of roasted carrots and parsnips, purple colored squashes, strange white, peppery stalks that tasted a bit like cauliflower, and dozens more entirely alien dishes that she couldn’t even begin to categorise. It was probably a good thing she didn’t keep kosher strictly, because she had no idea how to apply the laws of kashrut on Asgard even after she’d earlier peppered Thor with questions about the animals and vegetables and farming, a topic on which he turned out to be unexpectedly knowledgeable.

(‘A world lives and dies on its ability to provide for itself,’ he’d said, by way of explanation. ‘A king who does not understand that would be a poor ruler indeed.’)

The food and the glitter of the hall seemed like nothing compared to the outfits of the others in the room: shining armour, rich colours and gold were the norm. As were elaborate hairstyles: piled up or beautifully braided or both. The over-the-top clothes and plate armour didn’t seem to stop anyone from indulging in the food or dancing to the music from a group of about a dozen people playing instruments that were all completely unfamiliar to her. It wasn’t a hugely formal affair: people were constantly arriving and leaving. Most were boringly humanoid but once or twice she’d seen a shiny carapace or a strange number of furry legs on display. Thor sat beside her and quietly filled her in as to who was who and where they were from. He seemed to know everyone. Of course.

Jane, in a rich, satiny, dark blue dress embellished with actual gold, her hair pulled back and up and held in place with a tiara type thing of more gold and decorated with diamonds, alternated between feeling incredibly over-the-top elaborately dressed, and very plain compared to the rest of the crowds. She was kinda missing her jeans, but she was glad she’d dressed up properly all the same.

‘And this is just an average Friday night for you?’ she asked Thor.

Thor looked amused. ‘Not quite,’ he insisted. ‘You know that we do not use weeks as you do. Tonight we celebrate…’ He wrinkled up his nose for a moment in thought. ‘The Battle of, ah, Mleana? No, I think it was at Nur Woods. Or… well, no matter. We might have a feast like this every ten or twenty days, repeated on differing cycles, some even following patterns of years on other realms. No one could possibly remember them all.’

Jane laughed. ‘You should show Stark some pictures,’ she said. ‘He’d have to step up his game.’

Grinning, Thor picked up his mead and cheerfully downed the rest of it. ‘I think he might need to visit another world to first acquire enough gold,’ he said. There was a tinge of smugness in his voice and Jane snorted. Then one of the serving staff silently appeared behind to refill his drink, making her jump slightly - she would never get used to the sheer number of staff, even though Thor didn’t seem to notice them. ‘Would you care to dance later?’ Thor asked, seemingly out of the blue.

‘Um. Sure?’ said Jane awkwardly. ‘I guess? I don’t know how to dance, Thor.’ He had charmingly brushed off a few requests from others to dance with them, so it was nice to feel special. ‘Also I have two left feet and I will step on you.’

‘I do not think I am overly worried at that prospect,’ said Thor, with half a smile. ‘But you do not have to dance if you do not wish.’

‘No, I will. It’ll be fun,’ she insisted. She wasn’t entirely confident about that but she was playing tourist on Asgard so she was determined to give it a go. Especially since this sort of thing apparently happened every two weeks or so. If she was going to be in a long term relationship with Thor, she should probably be able to survive a royal party and manage a bit of a dance.

Thor reached into a small bowl of water on the table to wash one of his hands, dried it on the edge of his cape, and then took Jane’s hand. She tried not to laugh too audibly. ‘What?’ he said.

‘Very gentlemanly,’ she told him.

He shook his head slightly as though she was the strange one. Which, she supposed, on Asgard she was.

Over the course of the feast, people had been leaving and arriving. It would go on all night, Thor had said, and Asgardians weren’t a timely bunch. Most of the arrivals bowed towards Odin, but once or twice people didn’t. Thor had explained they were royals from other realms. One such family chose that time to enter, the two older women who headed the party giving Odin a wave in greeting. They were both tall and grey haired with brown skin, one wearing a huge construction of a dress in green and black, covered in jewels, and a grand silver circlet on her head. The other’s attire was slightly simpler, but still dripping with gems. They joined hands as they walked towards a table offered to them, followed by their entourage. The five younger members of the party were two men and three women, who all looked between what Jane would have guessed was twenty-five and forty but realistically could be anything. They resembled the older women - some of them quite strikingly - and Jane realised that of course she was looking at a family. Earth royalty might all get married to the opposite sex, but she had no reason to think that here. The sons and daughters weren’t quite so free as their mothers in their greeting: each afforded Odin with a respectful nod.

Jane turned to Thor to ask who they were, but saw he’d gone a bit pale. She heard him swear under his breath and saw him send a glance to his father that clearly read _what the fuck_ \- even if Thor himself would never put it like that.

‘Everything OK?’ she asked.

Thor grimaced with apology. ‘Forgive me, Jane, the situation has become a little awkward. A previous… ah… romantic partner of mine has just arrived. It did not end well, and I did not distinguish myself over the matter. Father did not think to warn me this might happen. Will you excuse me for a few moments? I should seek some small forgiveness.’

‘Uh… sure,’ said Jane doubtfully.

Thor washed his hands again, drained his tankard, seemed to steel himself for a moment, and then stood up. Jane watched his retreating back as he walked towards the newest arrivals. Thor was discrete to the point of being annoying about his previous liaisons, but since he didn’t ask questions about hers beyond establishing Richard was out of the way the previous winter, she’d never pushed him. 

She saw Thor greet the two women with a similar careful nod-that-wasn’t-quite-a-bow their children had done with Odin. Then, to her surprise, it wasn’t one of the three women he approached, but one of the two men. Well. That was new. She felt a slight sting of things not being mentioned which she did her best to suppress as she reached for her rapidly cooling drink once more.

It was hard not to keep watching. She wasn’t sure if she should be, but she couldn’t help but be nosy. The man Thor was talking to was his height, and muscular, although not quite as broad as Thor. He too wore silver armour although his was more elaborately decorated with shining filigree. The two had moved away from the table slightly. Thor was at his most awkward looking, cringing slightly and clearly trying to keep things calm. The other prince meanwhile was grumpy and irritable and folded his arms before less than a minute had gone by. Jane grimaced. That was clearly not going well. She wondered if Thor should try and get the charm out, but expected anyone who had dated him would probably be able to spot any hint of insincerity. .

‘... forgotten the mortal already…’ she heard suddenly, amidst a slight lull in conversation.

She whipped her head around but couldn’t tell who’d spoken. Not that it would matter if she could. Taking a breath, she turned back to her dinner and resolved ignore it. Too bad Sif and the Warriors Three were at another table. Them, at least, she knew. Here at the top she was suddenly exposed. Thor had wanted his people to see her with him and she’d been torn between nerves and pleasure at the suggestion when he’d asked her about the seating plan. She just hadn’t realised how very alone she would be if he left.

‘... Prince of Lerraine… third in line… _very_ good friends with Thor…’

‘... much more suitable match…’

Jane balled her fists and glared up the table. She had no idea who was talking but if she figured it out she’d throw her drink on them.

‘... mortals are good for a fling… nothing long term...’

Cheeks burning, heart thumping, Jane decided she was done. It was either that or start a fight. She slipped from the table and towards the shadows at the side of the hall where she knew there were one or two balconies. That was probably better than trying to smack someone. Thor would find her easily enough.

Outside, she perched on the wall around the edge of the balcony and looked up at the sky, enjoying the cold, fresh air on her face. It was beautiful. She couldn’t even resent the golden lights of the city, for all that she knew they robbed her of seeing all the stars she otherwise might. Asgard was so impossibly pretty right from the ground all the way up. It felt like a dream. In a way it was almost comforting to know that the impossible dream was still filled with gossiping jackasses. It made it real. 

Leaning back, she hunted for constellations she’d seen on the holograms that Thor had shown her how to use. Asgard too had a hunter, and the constellation of the five warriors, and somewhere she knew was the Bard but she couldn’t see the telltale cluster that made up the lute.

‘Jane?’

She jumped a little and turned to see a sheepish Thor in the shadows. ‘Hey, you,’ she said. ‘Did you sort out your ex drama?’

His eyebrows creased slightly for a moment the way they always did when he was parsing a sentence the Alltongue had trouble translating.

‘I do not believe I improved the situation,’ he admitted. He joined her at the balcony. ‘My apologies for leaving you on so fruitless a quest.’

‘It’s fine,’ said Jane, a little too airily. Thor frowned again. ‘Sorry, I’m not mad. Obviously you have exes. It’s just a bit weird when you never mention… anything to suddenly be confronted with it.’ She wondered if there was a polite way to ask for more details.

‘Naturally I do not,’ said Thor. It seemed to be a point of pride. Jane considered him.

‘Is it… an Asgard thing then?’

‘Is what?’

‘To like, not mention ex partners? Because you never have.’

‘Oh!’ said Thor. ‘That is what is polite, yes.’ He paused for a moment. ‘It would usually be acceptable to talk in general terms, particularly amongst one’s friends, but in the palace, everyone knows all, so I am used to silence to prevent the spread of gossip.’

‘Well if everyone knows all, surely everyone in the whole place knows you were seeing him in the first place?’ pointed out Jane.

Thor laughed. ‘Most likely,’ he admitted.

‘Everyone except me,’ said Jane.

‘Oh,’ said Thor again. ‘I did not think-’

‘Sorry, just, some people on the table were all gossipy and I heard them saying stuff and I know it’s not your fault but it just made me feel...’ She trailed off. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to be affected by gossip, but she was.

‘Who on the table spoke?’ Thor’s brows were furrowed once more.

‘I don’t know, I didn’t see. It doesn’t matter. Half the room is thinking it.’

‘They should not be,’ he growled.

‘Of course they are,’ snapped Jane. ‘Of course they all think he’s more suitable and I’m just a mortal and in a hundred years I’ll be gone so why even bother?’ She could feel him tense and she sighed. ‘Look there’s no answer. We can’t fix this. I just want to go to bed.’

‘Jane,’ he said softly, ‘however long you live, be it a day or three thousand years, I love you. There is nothing to “fix”. You are stronger and brighter and more wonderful than any on Asgard, and if you wish it I will fight them all for your honour.’

At last she laughed quietly and took his hand. ‘Maybe don’t fight them _all_ ,’ she said. ‘Just one or two.’ Thor chuckled.

Then he leaned back and studied her face. ‘I am sorry my attempt at discretion has caused you pain,’ he said. ‘My relationship with Prince Dressan is not one of my most distinguishing moments, but if you have questions then it seems only fair that I answer them.’

Jane hesitated for a moment, natural curiosity at war with Thor’s apparently cultural desire to not talk about. ‘It’s fine, I think,’ she said. ‘It’s just been a weird evening. I’ve not really had much practice at dating a prince.’

‘I confess, Lady, I’ve had no practice courting a woman of Midgard,’ said Thor. He kissed her hand. ‘I hope you will help me continue to learn.’

‘I think that can be arranged,’ said Jane, with a grin. She paused for a moment. ‘Just, like, one question though. Well. Not a question exactly. I just… I didn’t realise you’d dated men?’

Thor gave her a curious frown for a moment. ‘Is that a... problem?’ he asked slowly. 

‘No, of course not,’ she said quickly. ‘It just- I don’t know- it seemed like something you might have mentioned.’

A sudden careful blandness came over his face, and it was an expression she’d seen before, she realised. When he’d talked with SHIELD agents after the fall, mainly. Light and unconcerned on the outside, but his eyes watching and waiting and unsure. She didn’t like it pointed at her. She could see the gulf that had appeared between them but didn’t know why, nor what words to use to cross it.

‘Look, I really mean it, it’s not a problem. It’s not my business. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to- It’s just unexpected. I don’t- I didn’t mean to-’ She broke off to stem the babbling and tried to assemble her thoughts. ‘Sorry, I’m just saying things. I’m not really explaining myself. I don’t really know what I’m explaining.’

Thor hesitated for a moment. ‘On Asgard it is no cause for comment,’ he said at last. ‘On Midgard…’

‘It would be cause for comment,’ said Jane, at last finding words she could hold onto. ‘Thor, it would be a huge deal if the gossip magazines found out. I don’t mean bad, or anything, not necessarily, but, you know, news.’

‘Yes, I- suppose I knew that,’ he said. He sighed and turned to look out over Asgard. ‘Even in only a few months I have read enough to see your culture is at a point of… transition.’

‘People are assholes, is what you mean,’ said Jane. ‘I really don’t mind at all, if you’re suddenly worried I do. Like, it’s not my business to mind, you know. I was just surprised you didn’t mention it. Which I guess makes more sense if it’s no big deal on Asgard. It’s just kinda a thing on Earth. So… sorry. To you I must have sounded… kinda awful.’

At last he shot her a small smile and reached over to take her hand. ‘You are never that, Jane,’ he said. ‘But your words do reassure me. Forgive me? Having seen Midgard’s... complexities I should have thought to tell you.’

‘Nothing to forgive,’ she said firmly and squeezed his hand. ‘I love you,’ she added, on principle.

‘And I love you,’ he said. He brought her hand to his lips to kiss it, before lowering it to regard her seriously once more. ‘I have courted some men, some women, and some who are other genders over the course of my life. On Asgard all that matters is I make a suitable match and produce heirs. Magic might bridge any difficulties caused by biology on that front.’

Jane considered. ‘OK, later, when I have my notepad, I am going to have a lot of questions about that,’ she said. ‘And I’m also not going to dwell on “suitable” for too long.’

He leaned in and nuzzled her hair, narrowly avoiding her stupid tiara, before she felt him plant a kiss. ‘Suitability is a terrible criteria,’ he said firmly. ‘I will follow my heart and nothing else.’ Then he leaned back to look at her again. ‘And whilst I am throwing all caution into the wind, I think I would like to consider speaking publicly on Midgard. I would rather assumptions not be made about my past.’

Jane did her best to suppress a slightly guilty grimace. ‘That sounds fair,’ she said. ‘It’d mean more stupid attention from the gossip rags, but if you can deal with the consequences, it might help people who are struggling to figure it out for themselves. Someone like you… it’d mean a lot to some people.’

Thor nodded slowly. ‘I shall consider it when we are returned to Midgard,’ he said. ‘I shall seek your advice again before I say anything though, Jane, for I fear the consequences will not only be felt by me.’

‘Probably not,’ said Jane. ‘But I can deal with that stuff. According to the internet we break up once every couple of weeks anyway, so what does what they say matter? Besides, you’d piss off some people who deserve to be pissed off, so I’m in favour of a bit of trouble in exchange for that.’

He laughed and kissed her properly. ‘I should expect nothing less, hjartað mitt,’ he said.

 

** FIVE **

It was all Odin’s fault. Stupid, stupid Odin. Sending Thor out to- And now Thor was-

Except it was all Thor’s fault.

He’d gone as his father had said, but he’d been the one to order the rest of the fighters back. He’d insisted they’d be killed. He’d insisted he fight alone. He wouldn’t risk their lives.

This Jane heard from gossip: from Fandral and Hogun, in a rush to put out more fires. From the other men who’d been hurried to the Healing Rooms. From the Healers themselves. She’d not been anywhere near herself. She’d been spirited away the second there was even an inkling of an attack, hidden and protected by three of the Einherjar.

Thor had fought alone the monster that had attacked them, and Thor had won. But at a cost. A cost she didn’t yet know or understand.

She couldn’t see him yet. The Healers had left her to wait. 

The last they’d said he was unconscious and they were assessing the damage. That could mean anything. Limbs amputated. Brain damage. Death.

She thought of his fight with the Destroyer. It had broken his mortal body once and for all and only through magic had he been saved. He’d died in her arms that day. But then he’d lived. He’d lived through everything. Through New York. Through a war. Through the attacks that killed his mother and then his brother. Through the near end of the universe. Through constant fights with the worst Hydra could throw at him. He’d lived. He’d been bruised and cut and burned and _hurt_ , but he’d come out the other end to smile at her again.

Jane clutched the chair she sat on and waited. He had the best medical care he could possibly be offered. He would be fine. He had to be.

This was his life. This was what he did. He saved people. He pushed others back so they wouldn’t be hurt. Stupid, stupid man. Wonderful man. She loved him. She missed him. She was sitting on Asgard entirely alone. 

Would they even let her see him? She had no claim to him. If he died, would they send her home straight away? Would they even let her attend his funeral? If he was injured badly, would he be able to return to Midgard or would she be allowed to stay or would they be forced apart again?

Jane waited.

~*~

‘Is he OK?’ The words were practically shouted as she jumped to her feet.

Eir, the Head of the Healers, had just stepped into Jane’s waiting room, did not even flinch. She was probably used to this. Jane itched to run forward.

‘He will be fine,’ said Eir.

‘Oh thank god,’ managed Jane. The words stumbled over each other as she managed to spit them out. She ran her hands through her hair. She breathed again. ‘Where is he?’

‘He is resting,’ said Eir. ‘We will keep him unconscious for at least the next day to allow him to heal.’

‘But he will be OK?’

‘That is all but a certainty,’ Eir assured her. ‘His injuries were significant, but no worse than he has healed from a hundred times before.’

‘Can I go to him?’

Eir frowned. ‘He will not respond. He cannot even hear you. He is entirely unconscious.’

‘But can I go?’

‘If you wish,’ said Eir. ‘As long as you remove yourself if instructed. We plan for him to sleep for another full day though, so you may not wish to wait the entire time.’

'I want to go,’ said Jane eagerly.

Thor was, as Eir had promised, utterly oblivious to the world. With the blood cleaned up, and his face only a little puffy and bruised, he might as well have been sleeping. Especially since he’d been put in a bed. It was fairly plain by Asgard standards: small enough only for one and with a dark wooden frame, adorned only by runes cut into it. The only visible sign that any advanced technology or magic might even be involved was an golden orange glow that seemed to have no discernable source, which bathed the bed and the surrounding area.

Jane reached forward to take his hand. As she did, she touched his chest accidentally, and felt an unnatural stiffness almost as if he was still wearing his armour. He was too small under the covers for that, though. Curious, she pulled back the sheets and discovered he seemed to be coated in a plasticy cast-like thing all across his torso, holding him in position. It was smooth and cool to the touch.

Carefully, Jane replaced the cover of the bed, took his hand in hers, and resigned herself to waiting. She could at least wait more patiently and less fearfully than before. He was the prince after all. If there was any danger, she did not doubt he would be watched over by far more people than just her.

Thor breathed in and out gently. She watched the rise and fall of his chest.

‘Sometimes, I wish you were a little bit less brave,’ she told him. It was probably best to admit that at a time when he couldn’t hear her. ‘I love you,’ she added. She made a note to say that one again later.

~*~

She must have fallen asleep. Awareness came back to her suddenly and when she opened her eyes the room was a little darker than earlier. She was still sitting on a chair beside the bed and still clutching Thor’s hand, but her back and neck ached in a way they hadn’t before.

It took a moment to realise that she’d been woken by a figure entering the room. She tensed.

‘My apologies for the disturbance, Jane Foster,’ said Sif. She was still standing by the door.

‘Uh, hi,’ said Jane. She coughed awkwardly, then looked at Thor. He was still unconscious, but still calm. She smiled down at him a little sadly and smoothed his hair down. ‘Eir says they’re keeping him under for a bit. He won’t wake up yet.’

‘I know,’ said Sif. She too looked at Thor.

‘Then why are you here?’ asked Jane stupidly. 

‘I usually wait with him, when he is injured,’ said Sif. ‘Once all the fires are out. As does he for me.’ She still hadn’t moved from the door.

‘Right.’ Jane shifted in her chair, uncomfortable. Sif and Thor’s history went back longer than she could even really conceptualise. Her stomach twisted a little. There was so much she could never have. ‘You don’t have to, if you don’t want to. I’m gonna be here all night.’ Her tone was harsher than she’d planned and she winced. The words sounded stupid and petty and even as she said them she wished she could take them back.

‘I would prefer to wait,’ said Sif stiffly, drawing herself up slightly.

‘Yes, of course, sorry, I didn’t mean- I’m not very-’ She broke off and shook her head. ‘You should come in and get a chair. They’re a bit better than standing.’ Sif hesitated, turning her gaze on Jane and inspecting her. ‘Look, sorry, I’m tired and worried and I know he’d want you here.’ Under Sif’s continued gaze she squirmed in her seat and dropped her eyes. ‘I just sometimes get a bit jealous of you so-’

‘What?’ interrupted Sif.

Jane felt her cheeks colour, and glanced back up to see Sif looking incredulous. She really needed to stop herself talking. ‘I’m pretty sure being Thor’s best friend you get this every time he dates someone,’ she muttered defensively.

‘I… do,’ said Sif. ‘It is just rarely spoken of so openly.’

‘I thought Asgardians were all about honour and honesty,’ said Jane grumpily. She needed this conversation to end. She was pretty sure she’d never be able to look Sif in the face again.

At that, Sif gave a short laugh. Then she vanished. Jane was just about to call after her when she reappeared, with a chair, which she set down on the other side of Thor’s bed.

‘Thank you for your honesty, Jane Foster,’ she said. 

‘Uh, you’re welcome?’ said Jane frowning. She wished she had a better idea of what was happening. ‘Look, I know I’m being stupid. I’m just still getting used to everything Thor is, and that includes him having friendships that are ten times older than my great-grandma when sometimes all I can think of his how quickly I’m going to age compared to him. I’ll try not to be an asshole about it. I know how much you mean to him because he talks about all the stuff you guys got up to all the time.’

Sif sent her a small smile. ‘We are both of us important to Thor,’ she said. ‘It seems better to me that we might be friends than enemies.’

Jane let out a breath in relief. ‘Yeah, I hope so!’ she said, smiling again at last and squeezing Thor’s hand unconsciously. She paused for a moment. ‘I’d like to hear your version of the Battle of the River Jun some time,’ she added shyly. ‘I’m pretty sure Thor’s exaggerating a bit when he tells it.’

Sif laughed again. ‘However many he tells you he defeated, half it, and then half it again,’ she said. Jane smiled hopefully and Sif met her gaze and returned the smile. ‘Very well,’ said Sif. ‘We have time, do we not? I will tell you the accurate version.’

Settling back into her chair, still holding Thor’s hand, Jane listened eagerly.

~*~

Some fifteen hours passed before Thor began to move, and then gingerly cracked an eye open to see Jane and Sif. The Healers had brought them a couple of meals, but otherwise they’d both been happy enough to wait and talk and catch a few hours of sleep.

‘Whatever she’s told you, it is a lie,’ he muttered.

‘THOR!’ Jane jumped on him and hugged him tightly, burying her face in his shoulder. She felt his arms move around her to hold her in place and she sighed happily,

‘Whatever who is telling whom?’ came Sif’s voice from behind.

‘Both of you,’ said Thor.

Jane giggled into his shoulder and heard Sif laugh too.

‘How are you feeling?’ she asked, pulling back and framing his face with her hands, glad to just touch him, and even gladder to see him respond with a smile and a flutter of his eyelids and a very tiny sigh of contentment.

‘Well enough,’ he said, opening his eyes properly to look at her. She tried to push down the fear and the exhaustion she’d been feeling but knew she likely hadn’t succeeded when she felt his grip on her tighten briefly. Then, he leaned back and pushed himself up to sit, nudging Jane into position beside him. 

Sif leaned across to embrace him, now that Jane had left her space to do so. ‘We’ll need to get you out of bed and fighting again before you waste away,’ she said cheerfully. ‘I’ll spar with you now, if you want.’

‘Give me an hour to eat!’ grumbled Thor. 

‘He’s just afraid he’ll lose,’ said Jane. Sif grinned.

‘I should never have let you two meet,’ said Thor firmly, which made them both laugh again.

 

** AND ONE TIME THOR WAS… **

‘Thank you for such a warm welcome,’ said Jane, as the applause subsided. Her voice boomed out through speakers around the auditorium. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see herself projected onto the twenty-foot screens and she did her level best to ignore it. ‘And thank you for coming!’

_Queues outside the doors,_ Darcy had told her. _Standing room only. Complete sell-out._

That wasn’t just her, of course. The International Physics Expo, London (sponsored by, amongst others, Stark Industries, on the promise that nobody brought any killer drones) was a week-long event of lectures, displays and (unfortunately) networking, so it would be absurd to think there were queues out the door for _her_. 

The event was open to the public, so the lectures were not overly technical, nor were the displays, but so far Jane had enjoyed getting to sit in the car that held the world land speed record, drive a one-tenth remote-control replica of the Curiosity rover around a sandbox, and try ice cream made with liquid nitrogen and a long island iced tea made by a robot bartender. 

Now, though, she was in the main theatre for her own talk, _Through the Wormhole: What our alien visitors have taught us about interstellar travel_. She hadn’t really expected the room to be so big, or so full, but she smiled anyway. She’d given parts of this lecture to anyone who would listen for the last fifteen years. This crowd might be big, but this time she wouldn’t have to fight to be heard, let alone believed.

‘In 1935,’ she began, ‘Albert Einstein and his assistant Nathan Rosen proposed a solution to Einstein’s equations that allowed for a shortcut between two points of spacetime. Dubbed an Einstein-Rosen Bridge, or a wormhole, it was long considered purely theoretical and, by its own mathematics, completely unstable.’ She paused for a moment, scanning the audience. Darcy was in the front row, of course, but the Avengers were unfortunately occupied in Prague. Jane licked her lips, tried not to think about them, and took a breath. ‘Of course, they were about a thousand years too late, because the first humans to travel through a wormhole were a group of Vikings in about 900AD. They followed a group of Asgardian warriors for the sheer hell of it, and ended up gatecrashing my boyfriend’s first birthday party.’ It wasn’t strictly accurate - Thor had called it a _Naming Day_ celebration - but it got a laugh from the audience. 

Jane grinned, and flipped to her first slide to begin her talk in earnest.

~*~

‘You were awesome, dude,’ said Darcy, who’d hurried to meet her once it was all finished.

‘Thanks!’ said Jane, finding herself smiling and surprisingly awake. ‘I think it went pretty well.’ They’d _clapped_ and _cheered_ when she was done. That had been awesome. If this was what Tony got every time he did a lecture, no wonder his ego was as bad as it was.

‘I recorded it, so Thor can watch it later,’ said Darcy.

‘He has seen me practice it,’ Jane pointed out. ‘He might not want to see it again.’

Darcy raised an eyebrow. ‘Sure he won’t,’ she said. ‘Now come on, let’s go find a bar.’

On the way to the bar, no less than five people asked Jane to stop and autograph the book she’d written. Two wanted selfies. She signed with a slightly wobbly hand and was pretty sure her grin in the selfies was verging on manic. Then, while Darcy was queueing at the bar, she ducked into the ladies to wipe off her makeup and change into flats. Tidy boots were all very well for being on stage, but if she was going to be in a bar, she was wearing tennis shoes.

Back at the bar, she struggled through a throngs to hunt for her friend.

‘Dr Foster?’

‘Um, yeah?’ She turned and thought she vaguely recognised the man. He was black, about fifteen years older than her, and tall, with slightly greying hair at the temples. Something in his face was familiar, though.

‘I am Dr Jeremia Nkosi from the University of Cape Town. I’m here with a few of my students. Would you care to join us for a drink? If you’re not too tired, we’d love to hear a little more about your experimental data.’

‘Dr Nkosi?’ said Jane, eyes widening. No wonder she recognised him: he was a Nobel Laureate and he’d managed to do a lot in the seven years since he’d won. She’d been reading a paper of his only a month or so before that had been something else altogether. ‘I- wow, your work on Quantum Chromodynamics- that could change the world.’

‘Jeremia, please,’ he said.

‘Then, uh, Jane,’ said Jane automatically.

‘And my work might change the world, as you said… if it can be verified experimentally,’ he said, with a wry smile. ‘One can but hope!’

‘The solutions you’ve come to, though- they’re so beautiful they almost have to be true!’ said Jane. ‘I mean, if you’re wrong, the alternative is just too complex, too fiddly. Or, I suppose, it means we’ve got completely the wrong end of the stick altogether.’

‘And wouldn’t that be exciting?’ he said with a grin. ‘Either way, I look forward to it. You’ve heard that the proposed modifications at CERN are due to begin this summer?’

‘Yes, I can’t wait!’ said Jane. ‘I mean, my work doesn’t tend to lead me there, but won’t it be wonderful to finally know?’

‘Drink?’ he offered, gesturing vaguely

‘Oh, wait, god, no, sorry, my friend-’

‘There you are, Jane!’ Darcy appeared as if summoned at her elbow and handed her a glass of wine.

‘Would you care to join us then?’ asked Jeremia. ‘I understand you may be too busy, though, so…’

‘Oh, no, I can, sure,’ said Jane. ‘Lead the way.’

‘So who’s the silver fox?’ muttered Darcy, as they followed him through the crowd.

‘Oh my god Darcy,’ replied Jane in a whisper.

‘What? He’s old, but I’d hit it.’

‘Jeremia Nkosi. He’s a Nobel Laureate with a research position at the University of Cape Town, and if his theories are proven correct he’ll have changed physics as we know it.’ 

Darcy raised her eyebrows. ‘So he’s a physics nerd just like you, except twenty years older and your theories already have been proven correct.’

‘I don’t have a Nobel Prize,’ said Jane automatically. And she didn’t. But there were rumours that maybe soon… not that it did to dwell on them. ‘I’ve- I’ve never really thought of it like that.’

Darcy grinned. ‘You physics rock star, you,’ she said, nudging Jane’s arm.

They joined Jeremia and his students, who turned out to be three early-twenty-somethings studying for their PHDs. All professed themselves to be thrilled at meeting Jane. One of them - a particularly young looking man - stumbled out a request to get an autograph and a selfie and gazed at Jane in such a devoted way she started to feel a bit uncomfortable and hope she didn’t do that to her favourite physicists when she met them. 

Fortunately, the other two students and Jeremia managed to talk like normal people and quizzed her about her research. She, in turn, quizzed them. As time went on, a few other scientists who knew Jeremia dropped into the conversation and soon Jane found herself in the middle of a group of about ten, expounding upon general relativity like she was the expert. And really, she supposed, she was. Darcy tuned out once Jane hit the second equation and wandered off to get food after about half an hour, but everyone else seemed to be interested and listening to her. It was a strange feeling, almost heady, although her mostly-forgotten glass of wine had nothing to do with it.

After a particularly long dive down the rabbit hole with Jeremia into math that had them both teetering on the edge of existing theory, Jane emerged almost surprised to find the bar still there. So too were her and Jeremia’s hangers-on. Then she saw Thor, leaning against a pillar off to the side and watching her with a strangely indecipherable smile.

‘Oh!’ she said. She jumped to her feet suddenly, and knocked her knee against the table. Swearing in the sudden rush of pain, she looked up again to find Thor had moved to right beside her. He took her hand.

‘I am sorry, I did not mean to startle you,’ he said.

‘How long have you been there?’ she asked, frowning.

‘Only twenty minutes,’ he said. ‘I did not like to interrupt.’

‘That’s… sweet, but Prague?’

‘All fine. Steve is a little bruised, but Sam is with him.’ His curious sideways glance took in her group and Jane remembered the rest of the world.

‘Oh, er, everyone, this is Thor. Thor this is… everyone. Jeremia - Dr Jeremia Nkosi - his three students: Thuto, Tau and, er Bryer.’ She paused and took in the rest of the group. She had definitely been introduced to them all. This was going to end badly. ‘That’s Dr, er, Alice Reichart, Dr Theo Trimble, Dr Mi-Kyung Tan, Dr Phillippe Thomas, Dr… god I’m really sorry but I’ve completely forgotten.’ She felt herself going red. This was much more typical a social interaction than being surrounded by eager listeners, so at least she was back in her comfort zone.

‘Dr Martin Bedford,’ said the final man coolly. 

Thor, effortlessly charming, greeted them all while Jane spent a moment wishing the ground would eat her. 

‘Jane, I’m sure you’ll want to be getting on,’ said Jeremia, reading her mind, ‘and I wouldn’t want to keep you, but I was just wondering if I might have your opinion on one final thing-’

‘Oh, er, sure,’ said Jane, half surprised, but mostly intrigued. ‘You don’t mind?’ she asked Thor.

‘Not at all,’ he said, and she delved forward back into the work, into the numbers and the perfect lines and structure that described the world.

When she came up for air, she realised another half an hour had passed and, suddenly hungry and awkward and feeling bad for Thor, patiently waiting, she hurried them away after vaguely promising to visit Cape Town, Berlin and Seoul at some point. Even as she left she could feel Bryer’s slightly creepy puppy-dog eyes on her.

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean for it to go on like that,’ she said. ‘My hotel is only ten minutes from here, and we can get room service? Hold on, let me text Darcy and let her know we’ve left.’

Thor was quiet as they got the tube, then the cable car, and then finally walking through the roads to Jane’s hotel. The air was crisp, and Jane took Thor’s arm and leaned into him, feeling safe in his warmth and bulk. One or two drunken partiers hailed them, recognising Thor and slurring out nonsense. Out here she wasn’t so much of a “rock star” as Darcy had put it: she was a nonentity once more. It was a relief, in a way. 

In their suite, Jane shrugged out of conference clothes and into pyjamas and a fluffy hotel-provided bathrobe. The hotel was a rather nice one - more expensive than she would have chosen herself, but Darcy was the one who bullied conference organisers about expenses and stole Thor’s credit card to make up the difference. She could feel Thor’s eyes on her as she changed, and as she brushed her hair, but the once or twice she caught them he seemed to be regarding her rather seriously, rather than with a view to getting her back out of her PJs. She wasn’t sure what to do with that, so she waited, perusing the room service menu with him, making their order, and lying down on the king bed beside him, to watch him back.

Her equally studious gaze seemed to jolt him out of his thoughts and he sent her a wry smile.

‘My apologies,’ he said lightly, ‘I am not much of a companion at the moment.’

‘What’s up?’ she asked.

‘Temporary foolishness,’ he said. She raised her eyebrows. He actually almost squirmed under her gaze. ‘Before I met you, I had never wished for more than the life which I had been given. Why would I?’ he said at last, voice slow and careful. ‘Now, though, now I wish for a mind I do not have, so as to understand your work, and the time to spend with you that my own responsibilities do not permit.’

Jane blinked at him. ‘Uh,’ she said. ‘Where did this come from?’ He hesitated again, and something suddenly occurred to Jane. ‘Wait, are you jealous because some twenty-three year old kid was making eyes at me?’

That at least got a laugh: just the smallest puff of breath. Thor closed the distance between them to lightly press his lips to hers.

‘A little,’ he admitted. ‘Though I commend his good taste.’ He paused again and reached up to run a hand through his hair. ‘I do not truly fear others seeing your brilliance, hjartað mitt. You shine so brightly in your work I feel nothing short of awe. I cannot begrudge others for wishing to feel that too. I just wish that I could meet you on your terms, as those you’ve met today do.’

Jane had felt herself go red. ‘One of these days you’re going to just compliment me by saying you like my shirt or something, and that’ll be really confusing for me.’

‘I do like your shirts,’ said Thor. ‘I like all of you.’

‘See, see! You can’t even let that lie!’ she said, and then she laughed at his frown. ‘Just, shush, and stop being silly,’ she said. ‘You’re genuinely one of the smartest guys I know.’ At that his frown deepened. ‘Look, I don’t know, if I wanted to talk to someone who’s good at physics then it’s not that hard for me to find someone. I can just walk into a university and hire someone. You know how to rule a planet, Thor. You know how to fight a battle as well as how to negotiate a treaty. You can tell me what magic feels like, what _the universe_ feels like. You can drop onto a realm you’ve as good as never visited before and figure out their culture and customs from watching a couple of movies. You’ve helped me with my work and you’ve made me laugh and you always know exactly what to say. You’re incredibly smart. I’m not just saying it to make you feel better.’ It was gratifying to see that he’d gone rather pink at that. She couldn’t often get a blush from him, and she leaned forward and kissed him on the strength of it. ‘Plus I’ve seen you make Tony Stark speechless, like, twice, and that takes some doing,’ she added as an afterthought. Those had been great days.

At that Thor laughed, and dropped his arm to her hip to pull her in closer to him. ‘You indulge me too kindly, Lady,’ he said. 

She reached for his arm and pulled him toward her. ‘I just want you to be you,’ she said at last. ‘Exactly as you are.’

‘I will do my best,’ he promised.

Jane smiled, and kissed him, and kissed him again, and was just getting settled in to kissing him a lot more when they were interrupted by the room service she’d half forgotten they’d ordered. Jane jumped to her feet and tidied herself as Thor answered the door.

‘You have my thanks for bringing us our food,’ said Thor, with a slight bow, an extravagant tip, and a charming smile, the combination of which made the woman blush, mumble ‘thanks’, and hurry out the room. Thor turned to find Jane badly suppressing a sudden laughing fit. ‘What?’ he said.

‘I can’t believe I just spent twenty minutes comforting you for being jealous of the four people in the universe more interested in me than in you,’ she managed, and then broke out laughing properly.

Thor’s face rapidly went from baffled, to a guilty glance in the direction of the door, to wry amusement in the face Jane’s continued laughter. ‘There were considerably more than four of them,’ he said at last, with a final attempt at dignity that just made Jane giggle harder. ‘All right, all right, you may cease laughing now,’ he grumbled. ‘You did just tell me to stay exactly as I am, after all.’

Biting her lip, Jane stepped forward and squeezed his hand. ‘I guess I did, didn’t I? Maybe I shouldn’t have spoken so soon.’

He laughed. ‘Well it’s said and done and you’re stuck with me as you wished,’ he said, grinning all the same.

‘I’m sure I’ll cope,’ she said. She took his hand and kissed it, since she couldn’t reach his face. ‘You’ll do.’

‘I am so glad,’ he said. ‘Now let us eat, so that we might have energy to remove all this extraneous clothing we seem to be wearing.’ 

Jane grinned. ‘Good plan,’ she said. ‘Told you you were smart!’

At that, Thor laughed rather joyfully and kissed her once more.


End file.
